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Blueprint for future port expansion ready 2.
Legco fight looms on revised $8.5b Route 7
1. Blueprint for future port expansion ready
Officials are set to unveil details on Monday of the Port and Maritime Board's
new blueprint for port development in Hong Kong. This follows the completion of
a port development strategy review in the last few weeks by government-appointed
consultants. Board secretary Alex Fong Chi-wai confirmed that details of the study
would be given to lawmakers on the economic services panel and declined to give
any information ahead of the briefing. The government earlier favoured two sites
from a shortlist of four possible locations for future port expansion. One was
earmarked for Tuen Mun and the other on the western side of Tsing Yi. Asked by
iBusiness earlier this week whether Tuen Mun or Tsing Yi had been chosen, Mr Fong
enigmatically replied, ``you'll be surprised'', adding that further details would
have to wait until the Legislative Council briefing. Alan Lee Yiu-kwong, CSX World
Terminals Hong Kong managing director, personally favoured Tuen Mun because the
area offered space both for organic growth and the possible relocation of the
eight existing Kwai Chung terminals to Tuen Mun. He said the area is also closer
to China, Hong Kong's traditional port hinterland, especially once the western
corridor bridge is built between Tuen Mun and Shekou. Tuen Mun is also favoured
by board chairman Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung, who has prepared his own infrastructure
plans. But Erik Christensen, managing director of Modern Terminals said: ``Our
view is that we would like to keep it in the Kwai Chung area. Tuen Mun is not
ideal. If there are two or three ports, then you lose operating efficiencies.''
This split among the terminal operators is set to reopen the debate over whether
further port development is financially viable or even justified on trade grounds.
Speaking during the summer, Deputy Director of Planning Ava Ng Tse Suk-ying said
that based on 20-year forecasts done earlier this year, Hong Kong ``will need
a new container terminal by the end of this decade and a new river trade terminal
in the next decade''. This is in addition to the $10 billion container terminal
9 project being built at Tsing Yi and where the first berth should become operational
by the end of next year. The port cargo forecasts estimate Hong Kong will handle
30 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) by 2010 and 40.5 million TEUs by 2020.
But detractors question whether future terminals are necessary or affordable.
They point to the eight-year political and commercial wrangle over container terminal
9, which the board had warned was needed by 1994 or Hong Kong port operations
would be paralysed. One insider said: ``But the port was not brought to a standstill.
Instead, terminal operators became more efficient and invested heavily in information
technology which boosted container throughput at the existing facilities. Also,
the rival Shenzhen ports of Yantian and Shekou lured box traffic away from Hong
Kong with cheaper prices. This trend has continued, which is why the Shenzhen
ports have regularly posted throughput gains of more than 30 per cent compared
with Hong Kong's 10.1 per cent increase last year.'' He added that part of the
reason the container terminal 9 project was delayed was the reluctance by terminal
operators to fund the massive project at a time when trade growth was uncertain.
They were particularly aghast at the size of the land premium demanded by the
government, which eventually settled for about $400 million. The government estimates
that a tenth container terminal together with a second river trade facility will
require an investment of more than $16 billion. ``Are the terminals willing and
able to make that kind of investment?'' the source says, especially as container
volumes start to fall in the face of the economic downturn in the US and Asian
economies. This drop has been exacerbated by the terrorist attacks in the US and
the subsequent military action. Prior to that, container and freight volumes showed
a modest increase over last year's figures, prompting Mr Lee to comment that container
terminal 9 was urgently needed to relieve pressure on the existing eight terminals.
According to the board, Hong Kong port, which includes the eight Kwai Chung terminals,
the river trade terminal and mid-stream operations, handled 10.2 million TEUs
in the first seven months of this year, compared with the 10.14 million TEUs handled
up to July 2000. Overall cargo throughput of river and seaborne freight climbed
to 103.76 million tonnes between January-July against almost 99.2 million tonnes
in the comparable period last year. But there also appears to be a shift in handling
patterns, so while overall box volumes rose, the amount of containers handled
by the Kwai Chung terminal operators actually fell. In the eight months to August,
throughput at Kwai Chung dropped 2.6 per cent to 7.4 million TEUs, while August
throughput alone showed a 4 per cent decrease year on year. Terminal operators
believed that the current downturn is temporary and economic recovery would begin
in the next 18 months to two years, partly helped by China's membership of the
World Trade Organisation. [Source:
Hong Kong iMail, 26 October 2001] 2.
Legco fight looms on revised $8.5b Route 7
Green groups are set to clash with transport officials and legislators when the
government reveals revised plans today for its $8.5 billion Route 7 highway between
Kennedy Town and Aberdeen. Environmentalists were angry after transport planners
again rejected suggestions that a rail option be included in the new plans that
were drafted after a special Legislative Council meeting last month. Organisations
such as Save our Shorelines Society believe population densities in the Aberdeen
and Ap Lei Chau areas justify the development of a light rail system, similar
to the Tuen Mun-Yuen Long network, or a heavier rail option. But in a position
paper produced for today's meeting of the Legislative Council transport panel,
the government said a mass transit railway was not feasible. The document, obtained
by iBusiness, said a rail line following the alignment of Route 7 between Kennedy
Town and Aberdeen would be a "very indirect link between the main population
centres in southern district. Secondly, the population centres in Pok Fu Lam like
Cyberport and the Chi Fu area only have a population of about 10,000 each and
cannot justify an underground railway station which normally serves a catchment
population of 50,000.'' The report says that although two government-funded studies
have identified the possibility of building a south island link between Admiralty,
Wah Fu and Ap Lei Chau but that the financial justification for building the line
remains marginal. One study forecasted that it would be 2016 before revenue would
cover the operating costs of the line assuming a catchment of 310,000 people.
The report said: "To make this railway line viable [covering both construction
and operating costs], an additional 170,000 population and 43,000 jobs within
the south Hong Kong Island catchment would be required. The south Island Line
remains on our drawing board but commands a lower priority than the six rail projects
recommended in the second rail development strategy.'' Save our Shorelines, headed
by former legislator Christine Loh Kung-wai, has carried out an extensive lobbying
campaign in the Pok Fu Lam and Wah Fu areas to encourage public support for a
railway. Legislators Yeung Sum of the Democratic Party and Lau Ping-cheung, who
represents the architectural, surveying and planning sector, have previously supported
plans for a rail line. But most transport panel legislators support proposals
for the highway, albeit in various forms. Many want large sections of it to be
built in tunnels, several want a dual two-lane highway to connect Kennedy Town
and Pok Fu Lam while others said a dual three-lane highway should be built from
Kennedy Town and Aberdeen. At today's meeting, the Transport Bureau will announce
plans to carry out an engineering review for the entire section of Route 7 from
Kennedy Town to Aberdeen. The study will start soon and is expected to be completed
next year. The bureau said: "In this review, we will investigate various
possible alignments linking Kennedy Town to Pok Fu Lam and from Pok Fu Lam to
Aberdeen. We will investigate the extent to which the project can be in tunnel
and the costs and environmental impacts involved." [Source:
Hong Kong iMail, 26 October 2001] |  |
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